Resolution: Get $ out of the Democratic Party – now!

Alhambrans Against 710

2 years ago

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On April 23, Feel the Bern endorsed this resolution written by a member of the club and the founding president, and signed by nearly 200 CA state delegates, as well as Congressman Ro Khanna. It demands that the California Democratic Party condemn pay-for-play politics. It has been submitted to the Party for approval at the 2017 CA Convention (May 19-21, 2017), first in the Resolutions Committee, and then to the entire state delegation at large. Read about what happened to the resolution here. Hint: The Democratic Party ruled it “out of order”.

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Full text of Resolution:

Denounce the influence of money in politics, and act in accordance with the California Democratic Party (CDP) platform

WHEREAS the 2016 CDP platform states “…a healthy democracy is based on public financing of political campaigns at all levels of government, campaign spending limits and full disclosure of political spending… We will fight the culture of corruption [and] cronyism…;” and

WHEREAS money’s influence in politics corrupts a healthy democracy as stated in the Princeton Study (2014) “Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens,” in the 2011 model legislation “American Anti-Corruption Act,” and in the Sunlight Foundation Study (2014) “Fixed Fortunes: Biggest Corporate Political Interests Spend Billions, Get Trillions,” which reports that the 200 most politically active companies in the U.S. spent $5.8 billion on lobbying and campaign contributions from 2007-2012, and those same companies got $4.4 trillion directly back from the government they lobbied; and

WHEREAS so far, voters in over a third of the states in the Union, including California, have voted to overturn Citizens United v. FEC (2010), demonstrating that the voters want to end the funding of political expenditures by corporations;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the CDP will publicly condemn corporations and lobbyists that finance political campaigns, as they perpetuate a culture of corruption and cronyism and thus violate the CDP platform; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the CDP will send a copy of this resolution to the California Congressional Delegation, including all its elected officials, calling on the delegation and elected officials to unwaveringly uphold the CDP platform, and reminding them that failure to do so is a dereliction of their elected and fiduciary duties as members of the CDP, as well as a copy sent to the Democratic National Committee.